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The sound of porcelain shattering as her mug full of hot tea seemed to last forever, the tinkling cascading over itself until it settled, finally. The roaring in her ears though, was still there as she stared at the small tv screen in the kitchen.
That was Sam Winchester’s face, frozen in a scowling mugshot. He looked nothing like what she remembered, his eyes cold, his lips pursed, eyebrows furrowed. And yet, he looks almost abashed to be there, there’s a remnant of the Sam she remembers but.. Well. That’s a mugshot from an arrest and Sam? Sam couldn’t have hurt a fly.
“What is it?” Tim poked his head around the door and she gestures frantically towards him and points towards the tv. They’ve pulled his image from the full screen but it’s still in a screen. “Hey, that’s Sam!” He said with a smile before it faded. “Wait-“
“Yeah,” Abby finally said. “That’s Sam. From college. And he’s on the FBI’s most wanted list.”
“But Sam never hurt anyone, he was going to be a lawyer until-“
“I know. I don’t understand,” Abby said, turning the TV off. She didn’t understand how Sam could’ve committed what the FBI is saying he’s done, desecrating graves (along with suspected murder), not only is it creepy and illegal, it’s disrespectful and that’s not the Sam she remembered.
She does the only thing she knows she can do. She calls Zack. He was the last one to see Sam and had been remarkably close lipped about it. Just that he’d seen Sam, Sam had been fine, but there was something he wasn’t telling her.
“Hello?” Zack’s gruff voice answers.
“Zack, it’s Abby. From Stanford.”
“Hi Abby from Stanford,” Zack said, voice light, teasing. She rolled her eyes.
“Thought you might’ve forgotten about me or something,” Abby defended herself. It had, after all, been at least six months since she’d talked to Zack on the phone, before whatever it was with Sam that had happened. “Anyways. Did you see the news?”
“Haven’t had a chance, nothing important’s ever on it anyways that I don’t find out from everyone anyways. Why?”
“Sam’s on it?”
“Yeah, he invent something yet?” Zack’s voice had changed, Abby couldn’t pinpoint it, there was something there.
“No. He’s, I can’t believe I’m saying this, he’s on the FBI’s most wanted list.”
“Yeah? Man, he must be pissed.” Zack said, laughing.
“What? Zack, this is serious.” Abby said. How could he laugh about this.
“Look. I’ve seen Sam more recently than you. It’s been.. He’s changed, Abby. He’s still Sam, but he’s driven in a way you aren’t used to. And he, well, you wouldn’t believe me anyways. But his job isn’t exactly legal.”
“And you’re ok with this?” Abby demanded. “And I can take it. Whatever it is.”
“No, I don’t think you can. I can’t, I pretend most days I don’t know.” Zack said, shocking her. He had been the strongest of their small group, besides Sam. He held up the best under stress. She bit her lip, chewing on that thought.
“You’re ok with it? Ok with him being on the most wanted?”
“Hell no, but it doesn’t change that he is, that there’s nothing I can do about it.” Zack said. “And I know whatever it is they’re chasing him for? It’s not the whole story.”
She was about to ask what the whole story was until she remembered that she didn’t want to know, not with how Zack had sounded. But yet, it was Sam. On the FBI’s most wanted list.
“Right. So what do I do?”
“Keep Sam’s phone number. Don’t call him. Not unless. Unless something strange happens. Something you can’t explain, can’t understand. Call him as soon as that happens.”